Choices and Mistakes
by DarthCandyBar
Summary: Clementine is just a young girl trapped in a violent apocalypse, with only good friends like Lee to teach her to survive. Based off of Season 1 while the group was still in the Motor Inn, but after St John's dairy, you, the reader, will get to choose who lives and who dies.
1. Chapter 1: My Darling

**Hello reader! This is one of my first attempts at an author's note, so bear with me. This is one of my first stories, as I decided to give up on my other one. Now, with more writing experience and time, I'm trying again. This story will mainly focus on the late game (after leaving the motor inn) group from season 1, and will focus on Clementine (of course, everyone loves Clem). This will be a fairly rough story, with voting via review involved. So without further ado, let the story begin!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Telltale Games or the Walking Dead video game. **

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"_In a canyon, in a cavern, excavating for a mine"_

"_Dwelt a miner, forty-niner and his daughter Clementine"_

"_Light she was and like a fairy, and her shoes were number nine"_

"_Herring boxes, without topses, sandals were for Clementine"_

_Drove she ducklings to the water, every morning just at nine"_

"_Hit her foot against a splinter, fell into the foaming brine"_

"_Ruby lips above the water, blowing bubbles soft and fine"_

"_But alas! I was no swimmer, so I lost my Clementine"_

"_When the miner forty-niner soon began to peak and pine"_

"_Thought he outher jine his daughter"_

__"_Now he's with his Clementine"_

"_In a corner of the churchyard, where the myrtle boughs entwine"_

"_Grow the roses in their poses, fertilized by Clementine"_

"_In my dreams she still doth haunt me"_

"_Robed in garments soaked in brine" _

"_Though in life I used to hug her, now she's dead, I'll draw the line"_

"_How I missed her, how I missed her, how I missed my Clementine"_

"_So I kissed her little sister, and forgot my Clementine"_

Somewhere in a far away motor inn, a small girl tossed and turned in bed, and awoke with a start.


	2. Chapter 2: Encounter

**Hello readers! Candybar for the wait. I got pretty far ahead in a rough draft, and then completely scrapped it and did this. So without farther ado, to the story!**

Clementine woke up on a hard wooden surface. This was most definitely not where she had fallen asleep. That was back at the Motor Inn... but this... this almost seemed familiar. Then it hit her. _The tree house! _Wait... how did she fall asleep in the Motor Inn and wake up here? Scooting across the rough wooden floor, she nervously edged open the wooden door and peeked out. Nothing. No people, no walkers, nothing. Staying alert, as she had learned from the past experiences. She slowly crawled out of the tree house and onto the small wooden ledge ringing it and looked around carefully. Nothing was disturbed. None of her mother's carefully kept flowers were trampled, there was no broken glass sliding door.

_Where am I? Where's Lee and everyone else?_ Gather all of her courage, she slowly climbed out of the tree house. When her feet made contact with the cold hard dirt, she immediately scrambled to find somewhere to hide. Ducking behind a trashcan, she waited. No moans, no shouts, nothing. It was like this place was completely deserted. Clementine peeked around the trashcan, and seeing that the coast was clear, ran over the little patio that led to the glass door. She tried the handle, with no luck. _Mom always kept a key under the rug. Said it was for emergencies only. I guess this counts as an emergency. _Clementine lifted the rug, and began probing around with her hand. Her fingers brushed something cold and metallic. _Success! _Grabbing the key, she slid it into the lock and tried the knob again. It opened.

The inside of the house was cold and dark. There was barely any sunlight streaming in through the windows. Bumping into a table, she let out a squeal. _Nice job Clem. You just alerted every bloodthirsty table in the neighborhood. _Grinning at her own joke, she peeked into the kitchen. The floor was spotless, as if someone had come in and cleaned the entire floor. There were no dead/undead babysitters either, so that was a plus. She began to rummage through the drawers. Everything, knives, matches, even the walkie talkies were still sitting there, right where they should be. Growing more curious by the second, she quietly stepped out into the hall. The pictures were hanging perfectly straight on the wall, except for the one picture that would never hang perfectly straight and that annoyed her mother to no end.

Something was off though, there was a lingering sense of dread and fear, as if a walker would spring out of a closet or from behind a couch and grab her. Luckily, that didn't happen. Unluckily, something else did.

First was Lee's voice going_ "Get up Clem. It's already noon." _and then Carley's voice _"Wake up sleepyhead, you can't just sleep the day away!"_ Clementine was thrown back into harsh reality, as someone rolled her out of one of the beds and onto the floor. Opening her eyes, she saw a giggling Carley and a smiling Lee. Mumbling something along the lines of "Go away!", she brushed some hair out of her eyes and slowly got up. Upset with the sudden end of the first good dream she had this month, she glared at both of them. Feeling her glare, Carley was the first one to break the silence. "Food's short again kid. Me and Lee saved some of ours for you though." This kind gesture brightened her mood greatly, and a smile spread across her face. Lately, food had been scarce in the Motor Inn, so Lee or another group member would usually save part of their rations to give to her.

Muttering her thanks, she grabbed her trademark hat off of a cheap wooden nightstand. Clementine and the hat were unseperable, except for when the crazy lady... Jolene … stalked her, thinking that she could fill the void left by losing her own daughter. Jolene had somehow managed to steal Clem's hat right under their noses, and Lee had promised to get it back (which he did). Jolene had met her end at a bullet fired by Lee, but in his defense, the lady was pointing a crossbow at him.

After this incident, which had clearly shaken Lee, Carley had given Clem a gun and taught her how to shoot. She could now hit most targets out to 50 yards if she was lucky. More then a few times it had been Clem's aim and sixth sense (honed by various walkers jumping out of bathrooms to attack her) that had saved members of the group. A few months ago, a strange man named Mark had joined them. Back then, they had enough food for everyone. Now times were tougher. Lee had told her that the walkers were running out of food just like them, and were leaving the cities. Lee and Carley were like parents to her, but just until she found her real parents. There was obviously something going on between them, even a little girl could see that.

Then again, she was a little girl who was surviving something that an entire military hadn't (she took pride in that). Caught in her own thoughts, she didn't hear an arrow impact the makeshift wall around the Motor Inn that they had made, but she did notice the scream of pain from Mark as he collapsed off the roof of the RV with an arrow wound in his leg spurting blood. Katjaa screamed and Carley immediately pulled her gun, aiming in the general direction the shot had come from. She was about to pull her own gun when Lee grabbed her shoulder.

"Better get inside Clem. We'll help Mark." Clem began to protest before a gunshot cut her off, and Lilly, who was on the balcony on the second floor cursed and ducked back into one of the rooms. Lee rushed her into a room as Carley and Lilly both shot back at the unknown threat/s. Lee guided her into the room and then shut the door. Gunshots could be heard outside.

**Sorry for the long wait in updating the story. My power has been off for a while because of snowstorms and I haven't had time to write. I am now back, so expect more delays in the near future.**


	3. Chapter 3: New Faces

** Hello readers. I have returned from my long journey in space (aka I didn't feel like writing). I would like to thank the one person who left a review, Micidonalboss, and anyone who read the story. I also remembered that Mark died at the Dairy, but in my story he's here and fine. Once again, I do not own Telltale Games or The Walking Dead.**

Clementine sat along in the darkness. It had been almost ten minutes since the first gunshots had started, and Lee had ushered her into this room. The gunshots still continued at the same pace, drilling into the walls of the Motor Inn. The last time she had looked out the window, Mark had been dragged behind cover and Katjaa had been tending to him, but there was no sight of the rest of her friends. Lilly could be heard shouting commands to the group and directing their fire. Slowly, the gunshots began to die down. Either the other group was dead or out of bullets. Either one was fine in Clementine's mind. After all, they had shot first.

A noise in the doorway caught her attention, and she turned to face the door. It swung open revealing a panting Lee. He began to speak.

"Hey Clem. You holding up in here?" She answered with a slight nod. Lee caught his breath for a second before continuing. "You can come out now. I think the other people are gone." Lilly shouted something that Clementine did not catch, and another gunshot rang out. Looking back at the door, she noticed Lee was gone. She grabbed her hat off the floor and stood up. Walking out, the first thing she noticed was the state of the RV. It was smoking and looked like Swiss Cheese with the amount of bullet holes in it. _That's a shame. Kenny put a lot of time into fixing it._ Looking around, she also noticed that Mark had been moved his previous position was nowhere to be found. Lee came around the RV and noticed her. 

"Hey Clementine, do you want to see Mark? Katjaa pulled the arrow out of his leg and stopped the bleeding." She nodded and followed Lee into a room that looked relatively undamaged. Mark was lying on the bed, and the sheets were stained with old blood. Katjaa was sitting nearby, and looked up when they came in. "Hello Clementine. Did you come to see Mark?" Clementine nodded and decided to speak. "Is he okay? What happened?" Katjaa looked at Lee, who nodded. "Well Clementine, some raiders attacked us, and one of them shot Mark with a crossbow." Clementine had no idea what a crossbow was, but it sounded serious. She decided to ask the obvious question. "Will he be okay?" Once again, Katjaa looked at Lee. He nodded again. "Well Clementine...we don't know. He's unconscious right now and he lost a lot of blood." Once again, Clementine had no idea what that meant, but it was obviously bad.

Carley chose that moment to poke her head into the doorway. "Hey Lee, where did-ah, hey Clem." She noticed the little girl and smiled at her. Clementine waved back. "You okay Clem? No walkers waiting to get you this time?" She was referring to the countless times when Clementine had stumbled upon a hidden walker, usually in bathrooms. Clementine had bad luck with bathrooms. She was about to respond when Lilly shouted from above. "Guys get out here! We might have a problem." Everyone exited the room except for Katjaa. Lilly was aiming her rifle at the woods across the road, where the shooting had come from. Peaking over the barrier, she saw a man with a sheriff's hat and a revolver. He slowly walked across the road with his hands in the air. "Hello? Anyone in there? I ain't here to hurt you." The reply from Larry was almost immediate. "Not here to hurt us!? Five minutes ago, you were shooting at us!" Carley glared at Larry, and he glared right back.

"I apologize for the...misunderstanding. The only people we've found so far have been bandits, so we jumped to a conclusion." Once again, Larry was the first to reply. "Well dumbass, you're deductive reasoning got one of our people shot with a friggin' crossbow!". This time Lily was the one to glare at Larry, and he immediately backed down. Lilly lowered her rifle, but kept it where she could reach it. Jumping down, she walked up to the barrier. "First of all, who are you. Second of all, you want us to trust you right after you shoot at us?" The man sighed loudly. "I apologize ma'am, we thought y'all were bandits, and if you don't want to trust us, that's fine, but we have elderly and children and just need food." Carley spoke up this time, albeit not to the man. "Well, you won't find any here." Her award for this statement was a glare from Lilly. Turning back to the man, she continued to speak. "Well we aren't doing so great ourselves Mr. Sheriff, and I don't believe your claims of having elderly and children if you shoot first and talk later." The man did not respond, and instead turned to face the treeline again. "Guys, come on out." Looking back at Lilly, he spoke again. "I didn't catch your name Ms..." "Name's Caul. Lilly Caul." The sheriff tipped his hat. "Pleasure to meet you Ms. Caul." A little boy and a middle age woman emerged from the tree line, followed by an old man and a young woman. The sheriff turned to face them. "I'd like to introduce my son Carl, my wife Lori, Dale, and Andrea. We have an RV about half a mile down the road." Lilly started to introduce the Motor Inn group. "Well this is Lee, Carley, my dad Larry, and a few more members. The little girl is Clementine" Lilly's statement reminded Clementine that Kenny was still missing. She nudged Lee and whispered "Where's Kenny?" Lee shrugged in response.

She was about to ask Carley the same question when the sheriff spoke again. "My name's Rick Grimes, pleasure to meet y'all."

**Well, those are some familiar faces. I do realize that I omitted several other members of Rick's group, and also ignored Kenny the entire time. Please review and I'll see you next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4: Blossoming Romance

** Woah, two chapters back to back! Amazing! Once again, I don't own Telltale Games or The Walking Dead.**

It had been a few weeks since the shootout and eventual joining of the two groups. She had spent most of her time trying to be friendly and get to know them, and she and Duck were already friends with Rick's son, Carl. After the attack, they had found Kenny asleep in the room he shared with his family, and Duck had been hiding. Kenny had received quite tongue lashing from almost every member of the group, and it was a constant topic used to pick on Kenny. Kenny had declared the RV he had been fixing up a total loss, and it was now used to strengthen the barricade around the Motor Inn.

She had been drawing with Carl and Duck when it happened. Lee and Mark had run up to the gate, carrying a man who seemed to be missing a leg, and were accompanied by a teenager wearing a school sweatshirt. "Open the gate! We've got wounded!" Lilly had sprung into action, quickly followed by Rick, and the small group entered the small outside area. The gate slammed shut with a thud. Katjaa walked over and immediately saw the injured man. The questions thrown at the group were constant. "Who are those people? How did he get hurt? Why did you bring even more people?" Eventually Lilly had managed to silence the group and Katjaa began to examine the injured man. He was bleeding and unconscious just like Mark had been a few weeks ago, and if experience meant anything, the man would be fine and moving about in a week or two just like Mark.

The group had been interrogating Lee and Mark when Katjaa screamed. Kenny stood up faster then anyone else and screamed "Kat! I'm coming!" Clementine peaked over the teenager's shoulder and saw the zombified form of the injured man attempting to bite Katjaa. After a brief struggle, Lee and Kenny managed to put it down, and Lilly immediately began to question the teenager, whose name Clementine had learned was Ben. "Why didn't you tell us he was bitten! You could've gotten us killed!" The boy stammered and backed up. "What do you mean bitten?" A seething Kenny had intervened and shouted at the teenager. "YES! BITTEN!" A look of realization crossed Ben's face and he quietly spoke. "Wait...you don't know do you..." Kenny was beyond furious at this point and punched Ben in the face, sending the teenager sprawling onto the floor. Lee and Rick restrained Kenny as he kept screaming. "WHAT ARE YOU NOT TELLING US! YOU ALMOST GOT MY WIFE KILLED!" The teenager stood up rubbing his bruised cheek. "You-you don't have to be bitten to turn. If you die, you turn unless the head is destroyed." There was a collective gasp from everyone gathered around Ben. Kenny was the first to speak. "You son of a bitch, why didn't you tell us!" Ben was quick to defend himself. "I thought you knew! I thought it was common knowledge!" After a while, Lee and Rick released Kenny and he stormed up to Ben. Looking him square in the eyes, he spoke in a threatening tone.

"I. Want. You. Out of here." He then stormed away to the room he shared with his family, and was followed by Katjaa. Clementine did not understand why everyone was so mad, or why Kenny was being such a fool. Grabbing Lori's arm, she began to speak. "What did he mean when he said you don't have to be bit? Why is Kenny so mad?" Lori turned around and looked down at the little girl. "Well Clementine, that means that things just got even worse, for us, if that's even possible."

The next day, Kenny had still not emerged from his room. Clementine sat on the ground drawing with Duck and Carl. Duck was drawing a picture for Kenny, while Carl was drawing a picture of his dad in a police car. Clementine had decided to give Lee a present, and was drawing a picture of Carley and Lee holding hands. It was quite good for someone her age, and she was just adding the finishing touches when she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around and saw Lee looking at the picture, and she flipped it over to the blank side as fast as she could. Lee spoke. "What are you drawing sweetpea?" Racking her brain for an excuse, Clementine thought of the perfect one. "I was drawing a picture of Lilly and her dad that I was going to going to give to Lilly." A smile spread across Lee's face, as he had seen the picture and it looked nothing like the excuse Clementine had given. "That's awfully nice of you Clem. I'm sure she'll love it." With that, he stood up and walked over to Carley. Letting out a breath that she didn't realize she had been holding in, she continued to work on her drawing.

Later that day, the group assembled for what Lilly had said was a group meeting. Everyone suspected it was not what Lilly had specified, but kept their mouths shut. Clementine sat on the ground in front of Lee. Her cap fell off, and she turned around to pick it up when someone placed it back on her head. She looked up and saw a grinning Carley standing there. "Tricked you." With that, she sat down beside Lee. After everyone was there, Lilly stood up and began to speak. "I'd like to thank you all for your work in the past few weeks. We've gather a lot more food, but that's one of the reasons for this meeting. The area's dry. No more food or anything useful. Another topic I'd like to go over is the leadership here. I know that I've been the de facto leader for a while, but I have decided to share leadership with Rick." A few eyebrows were raised at that. Larry spoke up first. "What do we do if there's no more food?" Several others nodded in agreement with Larry, as they had been planning on asking the same thing. Clementine hadn't noticed a lack of food. To her, it was more then enough to feed a skinny 1st grader. "That's what I'd like to talk about. Rick and I have decided that we should move on." Mark spoke up and cut Lilly off. "You and Rick decided? What about us?" Lilly let out a sigh of exasperation. "If you hadn't cut me off, I would've answered that question. Tomorrow morning, we're going to put it to a vote." Most of the group nodded their agreement.

Lilly let the talking die down, then spoke again. "If there's nothing anyone else wants to talk about, then I think we're done." Nobody spoke up, so the group dispersed and went back to doing their usual activities. Clementine noticed Lee and Carley walking back to the room that they shared with Clementine. Now was the perfect chance. Quietly walking up behind them, she tapped Lee on the shoulder. Lee jumped into the air, which got a laugh from Carley. He turned to face Clementine. "Hey sweetpea. What do you need?" She nervously took the picture out of her pocket and handed it to him. "What's this? I think it's beautiful. Who are the people in the picture." She rolled her eyes. "Duh. You and Carley." Lee and Carley both smiled. "It's amazing Clementine. We love it." With that, they turned and walked into the room whispering to each other. It was so obvious they were in love. Even Clementine could see it. Yawning, she realized that she was quite tired. Being the spirit of a group of survivors was a hard job.

**Another chapter down! See you next time!**


	5. A Long Road Ahead

**Hello. Please realize that in no way was the last chapter/extra actually a part of the story.**

_"We drink to our youth, for the days come and gone."_

_"For the age of aggression is just about done."_

_"We'll drive out the dead, and restore what is ours."_

_"With our blood and our steel, we'll take back our home."_

_"Down with the dead, crushers of dreams__**.**__"_

_"On the day of your defeat, we will drink and we'll sing."_

_"We're the children of Earth, and we fight for all our lives."_

_"And when the end beckons, we fight to survive."_

_"But this land is ours, and we'll see it wiped clean."_

_"Of the scourge that has sullied our hopes and our dreams."_

_"Down with the dead, crushers of dreams."_

_"On the day of your defeat, we will drink and we'll sing."_

_"We're the children of Earth, and we fight for all out lives."_

_"And when the end beckons, we fight to survive."_

_"We drink to our youth, for days long gone."_

_"For the age of aggression is just about done."_

**This signifies the beginning of the trip to Savannah. Reviews are encouraged and welcomed. The song above was roughly adapted from the "Age of Aggression", a song found in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.**


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